


Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses

by FictionalKnight (Northern_Star)



Category: Indiana Jones
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Star/pseuds/FictionalKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once again, Indiana Jones had managed to find the unfindable. Now the treasure that was rumored to be hidden deep within the temple would soon be his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chickadilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chickadilly/gifts).



Indiana Jones stood, covered in grime and his sweat-damp clothes sticking to his his skin, before what had once been a large and beautiful temple. It was hard to tell now, the jungle having covered the entire surface of the structure, hiding it from view and memory for well over a millennia.

He'd done it, he thought, a lopsided grin spreading across his face. It had taken him three days of trudging through the tall, thick vegetation, in the awful, oppressive humidity of the jungle, to finally find this damn temple that no one seemed to believe was even still here. But he'd done it.

Once again, Indiana Jones had managed to find the unfindable. Now the treasure that was rumored to be hidden deep within the temple would soon be his.

His...and the museum's, of course! He never kept the artifacts he gathered. The triumph of the find, however, was always his, and his alone.

He could almost taste it - the sweet, sweet nectar of victory - as he took the first few steps upon the moss-covered steps that led to where a heavy wooden door had once been. There were nothing but splinters left of it now. Carefully climbing one step at a time, mindful of the mossy rocks, Indiana made his way to the temple's entrance.

There was a cool breeze coming from the inside, which he knew circulated through the gaping holes in the roof and walls of the structure. The air smelled like rotting leaves and Indiana grimaced as he wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirtsleeve.

He secured the strap on his bag, adjusted his hat and felt for his whip, then took a slow, careful step into the temple, looking left and right, his every senses on alert, making sure it was safe before proceeding with the next step. He knew that the temple was more than likely one huge booby-trap. Had it not been, then the artifact that it was said to contain - the staff of Moses - would have made it out into the world by now, and he wouldn't be standing here trying to get to it.

The staff of Moses... The Nehushtan. Indiana groaned at the thought. Of all the artifacts that the Museum could possibly have asked him to retrieve, of all the objects they could have wanted to add to their collection, they'd had to pick that one; a copper snake set upon a wooden rod.

A snake!

Indiana fought to suppress a disgusted shudder. He hated snakes. Real ones or copper artifacts made no difference to him; he absolutely, passionately hated snakes. Every last one of them.

Yet, somehow they'd gotten him to agree to retrieve this artifact, and so, here he was. There was no turning back now.

Besides... Indiana Jones had never been one to turn down a challenge before and he certainly wasn't about to start now. Not after all he'd gone through to get here. Oh no. Snake or no snake, he'd get the staff he'd come all this way to find, and he'd bring it back to the museum.

Setting aside all thoughts of slithering reptiles, Indiana pressed further inside the temple, looking over his shoulder and on both sides with every few steps he took.

There were two openings facing one another, on the walls further ahead. Both were big enough to be the entrances to other chambers. Neither of them had an actual door, only curtains of leaves that grew out of the cracks between the stones above what would have been the door frame. Once he got close enough, Indiana saw what looked like a human thigh bone protruding from under the thick veil of vegetation covering the entrance to his left. He couldn't see inside very well, but from the awful stench in the air - the smell of death and decay - he knew that this wasn't the right path for him to take. He'd find nothing there but his doom, he could feel it in his gut.

Cautiously, he bent down and pulled the bone from under the greenery. Nothing happened, save for the fact that he now had an object to use to push aside the curtain of leaves and liana from the entrance to the other chamber.

He stepped across the hall, and carefully moved leaves and branches aside to open up the doorway as much as he could. He peered inside, but saw nothing except more vegetation growing from cracks in the floor and the ceiling and the walls. The only scent that seemed to be hanging in the air was that of rotting plant matter. Satisfied that the path wasn't as dangerous as the first one, Indiana walked through the curtain of greenery and into the large chamber.

On a wall, several feet away, he saw a stone upon which had been inscribed a warning. He couldn't read the language very well, but the drawings were sufficient to explain there meaning: anyone who went further ahead though this room and into the next would incur the wrath of God. Indiana rolled his eyes. He knew it was all just a ploy to scare people away. The only thing anyone would find here were traps made by the hand of man - not God. And while these words, and the traps, might have worked on others, keeping them out of the temple and its contents safe, they wouldn't work on him. Not at all. He'd stared death in the face quite a few times already, and was still around to talk about it - and he fully intended for this expedition to come to a successful end.

For the next hour, though it felt like several more to him, Indiana made his way through the temple's many chambers, inspecting every one carefully, looking for hidden doors and for loose floor stones, keeping out of the way of the many contraptions meant to deter anyone from pressing forward. Every now and then he would stop, pull out his notebook and draw in a little more of the map for the temple, then replace the book in his bag, wipe his brow and keep on going. All the traps he'd seen, and some he hadn't but suspected were there, all of them he'd made notes for - both in the book and in his mind, just in case he should have to come out of the temple in a hurry. It wasn't like that had never happened before, after all.

Finally, as he started to feel the first telltale signs of exhaustion, Indiana found himself standing before a bronze door. This had to be it, he thought. This was the very last room, according to his carefully drawn plan. The staff would be inside this room.

He felt the walls carefully with both hands, making sure there wasn't anything dangerous there, then he grabbed the door's handle and slowly pushed the door in. As the door opened there was a faint wooshing sound - the sound of air penetrating inside a room that had been sealed for over a millennia. He'd be the first one to see it since it had been locked inside; the Nehustan in all its glory.

The door now fully opened, Indiana let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He looked inside, to the far end of the room, and...

There were two staves there. Not just one, as he'd expected to find, but two. The real one and... a fake, a decoy, a copy.

Indiana frowned, stepping inside the room. How was he supposed to know which one was the right one? The real one. The closer he got to the objects, both of them planted into a small stone altar with gold insets and brilliant jewel decorations, the more he could tell that both staves were identical. The wooden rods bore the same inscriptions. The bronze snake heads had the same diamond eyes and the exact same dent right near the left fang. Whoever had made the second staff had done their job to absolute perfection.

Which meant that there was only one way to find out which staff was the right one: touching it with his bare hands. And given what Indiana knew about this staff, and especially given that there was a snake involved, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the task.

Just as he was contemplating his life-long streak of bad luck where snakes were concerned, Indiana heard what could only be footsteps coming from the hall leading to the room. Could it be that he'd been followed all the way here?

"I can't believe I've actually found it," he said, loud enough to be heard outside the room. He didn't look over his shoulder, hoping to seem oblivious to the fact that he probably wasn't alone.

There were more footsteps, hurried, this time. They came to an abrupt stop, and all of a sudden, Indiana heard the sounds from a pistol being armed.

"Hands up," came a man's voice behind him.

Indiana fought to suppress a smile as he held up his hands and very slowly turned around. "Belloq," he said in what he hoped would pass for a frustrated sigh. "I see you still enjoy shadowing me."

The man gave him a sly smile. "I find it's best to send someone ahead so as not to lose my own head in the quest." With his pistol, he motioned for Indiana to move aside. "Besides, I always get the prize anyway, don't I?"

"Apparently so," Indiana muttered. "I hope you know which one's the real one," he added, more intelligibly. "Because I sure don't."

Belloq stepped closer to the altar, admiring the artifacts, his gun still pointed at Indiana. "Ah, but it is obvious to any true expert," he replied in a chuckle. With his free hand he pointed to the staff on the left. "This one is the true Nehushtan," he said, "this one was the staff of Moses."

"If you say so," Indiana replied, rolling his eyes. He was fairly certain that Belloq was taking a wild guess. It didn't matter, though, just as long as he touched one of the staves - and Indiana would know for sure which one was the actual, honest to goodness Nehushtan. Then, all he'd have to do would be to take it from Belloq, and Indiana had a feeling that this would be a piece of cake...

As though granting his unspoken wish, Belloq reached for the staff which he'd said was the one, and he closed his hand around it, yanking it from the altar in one quick pull. A half second later, as if by magic, the staff transformed into a writhing, spitting and very alive snake. Belloq gasped as it lunged and sunk its fangs into his hand. With a cry of horror he hurled the snake against a wall, as far from himself as he possibly could.

The snake, having reverted to its original staff form, hit the ground with the loud clank of metal knocking on stone. A few feet away, Belloq stumbled backwards, dropping his gun and slumping to the ground heavily, the poison from the snakebite spreading cold and paralysis through his body as quickly as lightning.

Indiana bit back a chuckle. "Nice to know I can still count on you to be so damn predictable," he told Belloq as he walked past him. "I guess I should thank you for saving me from having to touch the thing..."

Digging inside his bag, Indiana pulled out a smaller bag made of sturdy, rugged burlap, which he'd had made specifically to store and carry the staff in. For what Indiana knew - and Belloq obviously didn't - was that the only person who could yield this staff was Moses himself. Should anyone else touch it, it would immediately revert into its reptilian form, and they'd be bitten by the poisonous snake.

Careful not to touch the rod or the bronze snake, not even with the tip of a finger, Indiana painstakingly slid the staff inside the burlap bag, pulling the cords at the end of it to seal it shut once he was done. He grabbed the staff from the ground then, comfortable in the knowledge that the staff could no longer be of any threat to him.

"Don't worry," Indiana told a still conscious but very much immobilized Belloq, "the paralysis is only temporary." He reached into his bag and pulled out a small pouch which he tossed over to him. "Here," he said, "This'll help reduce swelling and minimize chances of infection. Just rub a bit of the herbs on the bite mark. Once you're able to move, of course..." He laughed and started to exit the room.

Looking over his shoulder one last time, Indiana smirked and said, "Meanwhile, the snake and I are going to slither right out of here. Better luck next time, Belloq!"

 

.. end ..


End file.
